Explosion on Bangkok boat injures at least 40 passengers

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Explosion in Khlong Saen Saep boat injures at least 40 passengers

BANGKOK:-- A powerful gas explosion on a boat shuttling service between Wat Sribunruang temple and Pratunam in Klong Saensaep canal this morning left 58 passengers injured, two seriously.

The boat, operated by Krobkrua Khonsong and loaded with over 60 passengers, was sailing from Wat Sribunruang pier to Pratunam when a thunderous explosion happened in the engine room.

They were admitted to Bangkok, Paetpanya, and Piyawej hospital, two of them in serious condition.

The explosion damaged the boat’s engine room but fortunately it happened while it was about to anchor at Wat Thep Leela pier.

Initial inspection of the boat revealed that the boat is powered by LNG gas, not diesel.

However the gas tanks were left intact but the boat engine was badly damaged, indicating it was not from the tanks.

The company executive Chavalit Maetayaprapas said the boat service will continue as usual and was not disrupted by the explosion.

He said the company operates the service for up to 30 years and thus was the explosion was the first time.

Marine Department is sending technicians to join the company’s technicians to inspect and find the exact cause of the explosion.

The engine room is at the rear of the boat and the explosion happened at 6.20 am on the first trip of the boat service.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/153734

-- Thai PBS 2016-03-05

[ratcatcher]

Hopefully, all the passengers injured in this mishap recover quickly. Not often one reads about this kind of incident on river/klong ferries.

I also hope the boat's engine makes a full recovery.

[Snig27]

It may not have exploded but I was on one a year or so back when the engine failed and then caught fire. Luckily we were at a pier so everyone got off.

[jaywalker]

Sounds like an LNG leak in an enclosed space.

All boats running gasoline or LNG need a well ventilated engine room. Otherwise they tend to go BOOM!

[arminbkk]

I take that shuttle boat on that canal at least a few times per week (weekdays) and usually always stand at

the engine room, mostly next to it. Sometimes I do think if the engine is going to blow or not, especially when

the boat driver revs the engine while reversing to slow down and stop the boat at a pier and to line it up along the pier.

From the pictures, all passengers that stood around the engine room and sat at the rear part, the stern,

will have been injured.

My girlfriend sometimes takes that boat to work, if she stays in her own room.

She would have been on that boat at that time, except that she stayed in my room last night.

A colleague of hers was on that boat and was slightly injured this morning.

Strangely enough, according to her colleague, 3 people are also missing, but the article does not mention that.

He said there were 37 people injured, plus 2 injured badly, plus 3 people missing.

[ezzra]

This incident take us back to the question what value the government put on it's citizen's life and safety?

no much as it appears from years of many transport related accidents that claimed the lives of hundred

of thousands dead and injured over the years.... the shoddy conditions and the poor maintenances of most

of the transport modes in this country keeps claiming more lives every day.... why is a boat that ferry

60 people allowed to keep it's gas cylinder unprotected and prone to an explosion? if you find the answer

to that, you will find the answer to the why of many, many of the accidents around Thailand....

[worgeordie]

Engine room !,you have got to laugh,if it was not so serious.

regards Worgeordie

[MaxLee]

Safety maintenance Thailand NON Existent

[jaywalker]

Engine room !,you have got to laugh,if it was not so serious.

regards Worgeordie

Well, it's a small enclosed space, that needs to be ventilated at all times.

Fill a small cardboard box with LNG and strike a match to it.... only if you want to loose your hand.

[taony]

"The company executive Chavalit Maetayaprapas said the boat service will continue as usual and was not disrupted by the explosion."

Good idea Chavalit, don't take the other boats out of service to at least inspect to see if there are others with the potential to explode. Gotta keep collecting those 11 baht fares.

[theoldgit]

The only good thing is they were lucky the explosion was not an hour or so later when the boats are packed solid. Also being near a pier people could be rescued from the water, a few weeks ago a guy who fell into the canal near where I live, people couldn't reach him and there is no life saving equipment along the khlong, though there is on the boats, police divers pulled his body out of the water about an hour later.

[ddavidovsky]

Call me Nostradamus but I was on one of these boats near the Mall Bangkapi yesterday afternoon, leaning against the huge red engine housing in the middle, a big barrel of fuel with tubes sticking out right in front of me, imagining the carnage if the engine exploded. Had an image of myself floating legless in the water. It was waiting to happen.

[billd766]

Sounds like an LNG leak in an enclosed space.

All boats running gasoline or LNG need a well ventilated engine room. Otherwise they tend to go BOOM!

Does LNG sink (heavier than air) or rise (lighter than air)?

I would have thought that the engine room would have a ventilator pump exhausting to outside the hull.

[petedk]

The only good thing is they were lucky the explosion was not an hour or so later when the boats are packed solid. Also being near a pier people could be rescued from the water, a few weeks ago a guy who fell into the canal near where I live, people couldn't reach him and there is no life saving equipment along the khlong, though there is on the boats, police divers pulled his body out of the water about an hour later.

What do you mean there is no life saving equipment?

I see many of the piers have several plastic containers with rope attached!

[petedk]

Call me Nostradamus but I was on one of these boats near the Mall Bangkapi yesterday afternoon, leaning against the huge red engine housing in the middle, a big barrel of fuel with tubes sticking out right in front of me, imagining the carnage if the engine exploded. Had an image of myself floating legless in the water. It was waiting to happen.

I travel with these boats every day (sometimes up to 6 times in one day) and often wondered whether they could explode or not. Then I thought that were fuelled by diesel so the chances were very small.

I have often been on one that has broken down with engine trouble.

Yesterday, I experienced something different. On the way home there was suddenly a very loud hissing noise (like gas escaping). Several people looked around near the motor box (where the sound was coming from) and some looked nervous. I had no idea they were powered by gas, so I thought it must have been some compressed air or something.

Now I am a little nervous about taking the boats.

[ttthailand]

Buses, vans, trains and now boat accidents. Is there no safe form of public transportation here ? Perhaps the BTS and airplanes at the moment ....

[cloudhopper]

Sounds like an LNG leak in an enclosed space.

All boats running gasoline or LNG need a well ventilated engine room. Otherwise they tend to go BOOM!

Does LNG sink (heavier than air) or rise (lighter than air)?

I would have thought that the engine room would have a ventilator pump exhausting to outside the hull.

LNG is methane cooled to a liquid and is used to transport in bulk. Methane gas used in vehicles as CNG is lighter than air. If the story is wrong and it is LPG that is mostly butane in the tropics and heavier than air.

[rooster59]

Blast on Bangkok water taxi injures 60

BANGKOK (AP) — At least 60 passengers were injured early Saturday when the engine of a Bangkok water taxi exploded as the boat approached its dock, police said.

Among the injured were three foreigners, including a Japanese male and two women from Myanmar, according to the city's Erawan medical emergency center. The rest were identified as Thai nationals.

The boat was ferrying about 70 people on an early morning route through the city's canals in a neighborhood on the eastern outskirts of Bangkok, said police Lt. Col. Chaithanan Jirapiyaset.

He said the explosion occurred as the boat reached the Wat Thepleela Pier, in one of the capital's working-class neighborhood, causing panic that prompted several passengers to jump into the water for safety.

The Erawan center said that at least 60 people were treated for injuries at several of the city's hospitals. There were no reports of deaths.

The boat was one of many commuter vessels that ply the city's canals and waterways. Many of the boats are old and often overcrowded but accidents are not common.

Police said it was not immediately clear what caused the engine to explode.

-- (c) Associated Press 2016-03-05

[theoldgit]

The only good thing is they were lucky the explosion was not an hour or so later when the boats are packed solid. Also being near a pier people could be rescued from the water, a few weeks ago a guy who fell into the canal near where I live, people couldn't reach him and there is no life saving equipment along the khlong, though there is on the boats, police divers pulled his body out of the water about an hour later.

What do you mean there is no life saving equipment?

I see many of the piers have several plastic containers with rope

Certainly where I live there is no life saving equipment, either along the footpath or on all of the piers.

[flyingdoc]

Let's wait for some solid facts !

[MockingJay]

On the video it looks like there is something already burning at stern when the boat arrives, heavy smoke there is too... Yet people enter the boat... Ignorance certainly wasn't bliss in this instance.

[MockingJay]

Let's wait for some solid facts !

...provided by skilled RTP officials...

[jaywalker]

Sounds like an LNG leak in an enclosed space.

All boats running gasoline or LNG need a well ventilated engine room. Otherwise they tend to go BOOM!

I would have thought that the engine room would have a ventilator pump exhausting to outside the hull.

You tink too mutt.

No hab. No need.

[smew]

engine room, no ventilation: an accumulation of gas due to small LNG leak !

[Ace of Pop]

Change from Brake Fail I suppose

[jaywalker]

The only good thing is they were lucky the explosion was not an hour or so later when the boats are packed solid. Also being near a pier people could be rescued from the water, a few weeks ago a guy who fell into the canal near where I live, people couldn't reach him and there is no life saving equipment along the khlong, though there is on the boats, police divers pulled his body out of the water about an hour later.

What do you mean there is no life saving equipment?

I see many of the piers have several plastic containers with rope

Certainly where I live there is no life saving equipment, either along the footpath or on all of the piers.

No need for life saving equipment in the klongs. Once your head goes under that polluted water you're a goner.

[khoksung]

The guy in the white shirt helping everyone off deserves a pat on the back

[cumgranosalum]

"He said the company operates the service for up to 30 years' - It's never happened before syndrome?

they may have been going for 30 years but how often did they do safety inspections?

[springheeled jack]

is this a conundrum ? a thunderous explosion it wasn't the gas tanks they were intact it was the engine exploding only 40 passengers were injured god knows what would have happened if the tanks had blown there was obviously a leak in the engine room a build up of gas and boom boom.

'

[masuk]

Sounds like an LNG leak in an enclosed space.

All boats running gasoline or LNG need a well ventilated engine room. Otherwise they tend to go BOOM!

I wonder if boats using LNG or LPG in Thailand must have a gas detector ??